


Letting Love Step Back

by Beibiter



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-01 15:10:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14523330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beibiter/pseuds/Beibiter
Summary: Haechan, an insecure high school senior, meets Y/N. He instantly is attracted to the confident young woman, despite being younger than her.





	1. Chapter 1

Haechan lets out a loud sigh looking at the score board. He is somewhere in the middle. Not bad. Not particularly good either.

Somehow, it has always been like that.

Mediocre.

Not just his grades.

No.

His life, too.

Average. Ordinary. Boring. A song that meanders through disconnected notes without a melody.

That's what it felt like.

Another student steps forward too eagerly, pushing Haechan to the side. She mumbles a quick apology in his direction and Haechan rubs his temple, annoyed by the fact that he is now also literally being pushed to the side.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a second, he turns on his feet to head away from the crowd, going to the cafeteria.

The line is long but it moves fast, so he soon has his tray filled with curry that looks like it was made from debris or grime or both. He narrows his eyes at the inedible clump and sniffs but the smell isn't any better.

Renjun is already sitting at their usual table, eating his dessert. Renjun is stick skinny. He looks like a handsome version of slender man. Haechan sometimes finds himself getting jealous when he looks at his friend. Renjun has pale limbs, long and thin. Haechan doesn’t actively try to look at Renjun, nor does he actively try to see what other aspects Renjun excels in that Haechan really fails at. It’s more like his brain short-circuits and plays tricks on him like: “Ha look”, it seems to shout with a thousand decibels inside his head, “he even has better legs than you.”

Renjun, for that matter, is also the number one student of their school, has been ever since he entered two years ago, actually. Hence, he doesn’t even bother checking the score board anymore.

Yes.

It’s really unfair.

Haechan plops down into the seat next to his friend.

“Are you busy tonight?”, Renjun asks, too straight-forward to bother with greetings.

Haechan spoons a fork full of rice into his mouth first, cringing at the taste of the curry. He thinks back to the last time Renjun asked him whether he had time. They ended up doing the shopping for the entire extended Huang family.

“Mh, yeah. Sure.”

“Cool.”

Renjun doesn't say anything else. No time, no reason, no nothing and Haechan can only take his small, almost unnoticeable smile as an indication that the other boy actually has something in mind.


	2. Part 2

It’s after 9 pm when Renjun knocks on his door.

He tells him the name of an obscure airport Haschan has never heard of before and takes Haechan's phone to type the name into it. It’s more than 90 minutes away and after a rough calculation Haechan comes to the conclusion that they will get back home very late. He quickly texts his mom that he’s out with a friend and then puts his phone in the little phone holder.

Apparently, they are going to pick up the daughter of Renjun’s mom’s best friend. Haechan is not particularly curious. He pictures something between an eleven year old brat or a university graduate in her late twenties.

When they stand in the arrival zone, though, he is not prepared for the gorgeous girl running to greet Renjun in a way that seems too cinematic to be real. She throws her arms around his neck and jumps into his arms, burying herself in his embrace.

Haechan awkwardly stands beside them. He gazes at her and swallows slightly,

quietly,

and quickly.

She is pretty. Not just pretty. Not the kind of clean-cut, rosy cheeks the popular girls in his school have. Her hair isn’t straight. Her legs are long and toned and she’s wearing an one piece that is too (he almost wants to say) luxurious for a simple fight.

She continues rubbing Renjun’s scalp with her knuckles until she notices something.

Someone.

Haechan is still standing there as if his feet had grown roots in the floor. Her eyes scan his outfit. It's an interesting ensemble consisting of swetapants and a shirt he had thrown on after hearing Renjun knocking on the door. He follows her eyes. On the blue fabric, it says “Bat Boy” featuring an image of comic hero.

Haechan cringes visibly, cursing himself for not getting rid of that shirt when he was in like, maybe, sixth grade. He leans from one foot to another, staring at Renjun and then back at the girl who is still eyeing him with unconcealed curiosity.

“I’m Y/N”, she finally says. Her voice is just like the rest of her. Low, but addictive like a song that you want to hear over and over again. Haechan hopes that he is not visibly blushing by now.

“Sorry for waking you up”, she says, pointing one manicured finger at his sweatpants and then she turns to look at Renjun, raising her eyebrows. “Is he your boyfriend?”


	3. Part 3

After Renjun had laughed at her words for five minutes and Haechan had repeatedly stammered that he is indeed, not playing for the other team, they went to the car.

Y/N got out her phone and in the mirror, Haechan could see the light illuminating her face in the dark car. Naturally, Renjun had offered her the front seat, but she had put her things in the trunk and sat in the back, leaning her head against the window.

She was pretty.

Still.

Even in the almost complete absence of light.

Haechan was still guessing what the extent of her and Renjun's friendship was. Despite hugging him passionately, Y/N was quiet in the car and Renjun didn’t engage in conversation either. But then again, Renjun wasn’t ever one for big conversations.

 

Like.

At all.

Thinking about it, Haechan had probably never heard Renjun utter more than five words at a time. (Even in class. Especially in class.)

When Haechan drops them off at Renjun’s place, he gets the luggage out of the trunk and then looks at the big iron gate in front of the mansion that they had passed through.

He could spend days looking wistfully at the rich exterior of the building. It was only missing the suit clad butler whose ensemble would correspond with the marbled tiles in the foyer.

Y/N takes her things from him, throwing him a small model-like smile. It’s a 1000 watt smile, a 100 degree Celsius smile, the kind that makes you feel warm, the kind that makes you feel hot and he can only politely smile back, wishing that his attraction to her appearance wasn't so physically obvious.

“Thanks”, she says lightly, already turning to Renjun. “Hope you get home safely.”


End file.
